"Thresh!" I yell, climbing out of my tree house, "Thresh! Get! Out! Here!" Some of my subjects stop their work to look at their crazy prince. I nod cautiously before continuing my search for my brother.

"Thresh! Get your lazy unicorn butt over here!" I scream once I see him on the other side of the forest path. Thresh stops talking with my younger sister, who giggles at me, while Thresh glares at me.

"What's so important that you have to wake half the forest for?" He asks once I'm in front of him. He gives me the "mother" look and crosses his arms.

"I'm going for a ride," I tell him. I stalk off giving Thresh a mock salute as I go.

"Be back in time for Father's announcement tonight!" Lesley calls laughing harder. I wave her off. I'm not excited for father's speech, that's for sure. He gives one like this practically every other night.

They usually go something like this, "Blah blah blah. Thresh is so amazing. Blah blah he's gonna take my place. Amazing warrior. Blah!" I kick a woodchip that was in my way, as I walk toward my tree house, where my unicorn, Cornelious is tied under the tree.

"Hey buddy," I greet the majesticly horned, white creature. Cornelious tosses his head as I untie him. Without a second thought, I swing up on the unicorn's back. The quiver of arrows on my back rattles, as my braids swish. Laughing as I kick my heels into Cornelious, we ride off into the deep dark forest. I'm so excited to finally be free for the day.

Life as the forest's prince is rough. I always have to be responsible and nice to everyone. It's really rather tiring. And honsetly, it's all for naught. I won't even get to be king! No, Thresh gets to be king. I'm stuck with prince-hood for the rest of my life.

With a growl, I fire my first arrow at a tree on my left without stopping the unicorn. The arrow strikes the knot in it's trunk. I kick Cornelious, making him whinney and gallop faster. I laugh and preform the trick I've practicing for the past moon. I stand cautiously on the unicorn's back, breathing in time with his pace. I free another arrow from the quiver and have it knotched in one fluid motion. I fire the arrow into the furthest tree, aiming for the split between two branches. The arrow hits with a satisfying thunk. I smirk. I'd like to see Thresh make that shot.

With a snort Cornelious rears on his hind legs. With a yelp of surpise, I fall backwards onto the hard forest floor. The force of my fall knocks the wind out of me. The unicorn's hooves hit the ground with a thud for a split second before rearing up again. I scramble to my feet trying to calm the large animal, when suddenly I hear it too. Hunters.

With a gasp I swing back up on Cornelious's back. Darn it! Why wasn't I paying attention! Tresh told me thousands of times to concentrate on my surroundings! The forest is a dangerous place for us. The humans don't appreciate everything we do to keep the forest alive. I ride as fast I can toward my home, but I'm too late. The hunters have already spotted me. An arrow whizes past my ear and thunks into the tree to my right. Darn it this is bad, really, really bad! Cornelious lets out a shriek of pain as an arrow hits his flank, and the unicorn rears up on it's hind legs again. I once again loose my balance and end up on the ground. Faster than lightning, I whip off my bow and ready an arrow. Before I can shoot, one of the three hunters grabs both my bow and pins me down, snapping my arrows strapped to my back.

"Let me go, you ungrateful human!" I spit, as I try to struggle out of his iron grip.

"Rush! Axe! I've got 'im!" the hunter calls just as I manage to slip out of his grasp. The hunters shout and all lunge at me, thus tackling me to the ground.

"Go home Cornelious!" I call as they start to bind my hands and feet with a rope, which they seemingly pulled out of no where, but the animal doesn't understand, even when I plead in his head, using my mind-control powers. Two of the hunters starts to lasso my beautiful creature. I scream and thrash, struggling desperately to escape, sadly to no avail. The hunter has a tight grip on me. There's no hope of getting back. I start to curse in my native tongue, the language of the forest. To most humans my cursing would sound like the call of a lonely crow, but it means so much more than that. The hunters ignore me an drag me off toward their village, just outside the woods.

"THRESH!" I scream at the top of my lungs, still trying to break free.

"Shut up!" one of the hunters commands and sends a hard slap to my cheek.

"You ungrateful little maggot!" I curse defiantly, "That is no way to treat your king!" Okay, maybe I lied, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Just to intimidate the hunters even more, I started to chant in forest, making sure the words sounded like a curse or a spell.

"Axe, what the heck 're ya doin'!" the other hunter scolds, "He'll curse all of us like that!" The hunter wacked Axe (what a stupid name) on the head. Axe shrugs apologetically and my captors continue to drag me toward their home. I can hear Cornelious panting behind me. That arrow hit him hard. I doubt he will survive the night. Eventually, I stop struggling to and accept my fate. Hanging my head, I let out a heavy sigh. I'm gonna miss my forest. I'll never see my beautiful tree-house or my family again.

OOoOOoOOoOOo

We reach the small wooded village around three. The hunters proudly drag me and my unicorn to the center of the tiny village. Cornelious starts to panic as we near a barn, and renews his struggling. I decide to get my second wind and struggle fircely with him. Suddenly, a girl catches my eye. I stop struggling long enough to read her mind, River's mind.

"River!" I scream, hoping she would help me, but of course like a typical human she ignores me and doesn't appreciate one of the forest's guardians. I stop and just stare at her. She is beutiful, for a human.

"Keep moving!" One of the hunters commands and shoves me forward. I glare at him and start to sturggle again. Three more men join the hunters and shove me and Cornelious forward. Without another word, me and Cornelious are throw in the barn. The two hunters holding me tie me to a post in the middle of the barn. They shove Cornelious into an empty stall.

"Don't try anything funny," A tall man threatens. I glare and ignore him. Looks like it's gonna be a long night.